Skin of Evil
' |image= |series= |production=40271-122 |producer(s)= |story=Joseph Stefano |script=Joseph Stefano Hannah Louise Shearer |director=Joseph L. Scanlan |imdbref=tt0708776 |guests=Mart McChesney as Armus, Ron Gans as Voice of Armus, Walker Boone as Leland T. Lynch, Brad Zerbst as Nurse, Raymond Forchion as Ben Prieto |previous_production=The Arsenal of Freedom |next_production=Symbiosis |episode=TNG A22 |airdate=23 April 1988 |previous_release=Symbiosis |next_release=We'll Always Have Paris |story_date(s)=Stardate 41601.3 |previous_story=Symbiosis |next_story=We'll Always Have Paris }} =Summary= With the Enterprise dead in space while the dilithium matrix is realigned, the ship receives a distress signal from a shuttlecraft returning Deanna Troi from a conference. They find that the shuttle has crashed on a desolate planet, Vagra II, and while they can find the life signs of Troi and the pilot, they are unable to beam the two to the ship. An away team beams down and discovers an animated pool of a tar-like substance, a malevolent life form that calls itself Armus. When Lt. Yar attempts to approach the shuttle, Armus hurls her back with a psychokinetic blast, killing her instantly. The away team is brought back to the Enterprise but the damage to Yar is too great for Dr. Crusher to repair, and they are unable to resuscitate her. A second away team is sent to the planet. Armus taunts the crew members and maintains his grasp of the shuttle. During this time, Troi has communicated with Armus and learned that it is a physical manifestation of evil from the bodies of an ancient race, abandoned on Vagra II. The away team scans Armus' energy field, finding that when Armus engulfs the shuttle and speaks to Troi, expressing his remorse and pity, the field disrupting their transporter signals is weakened which could allow them to beam Troi and the pilot out of the shuttle. After Armus toys with Troi by completely engulfing Commander Riker, Captain Picard beams down to speak to Armus directly, sending the rest of the away team to the ship. Picard engages Armus in a heated discussion to discover its motive, which is to seek revenge on those that abandoned it on Vagra II. Armus is riled to a point where the energy field is dissipated enough, allowing for Picard, Troi and the pilot to be safely beamed back to the Enterprise. After destroying the shuttlecraft from orbit, Picard orders a quarantine on Vagra II. As they leave Vagra II, the crew holds a memorial service for Lt. Yar, with a pre-recorded simulation of Yar addressing each of the senior crew members telling them what they meant to her and what she learned from each of them. After the service, Data, who had previously become close to Yar, tells Picard that he is confused as to the purpose of the service. He says that his thoughts are for himself, because he can only think of how empty his life will be without Tasha. He asks if he has missed the point, but Picard assures him he got it. =Errors and Explanations= Equipment Oddities # The crashed shuttle looks odd for a Starfleet shuttle. It's very round, and the piloting controls are placed about halfway back. The piloting controls could have been displaced by the impact. # On his way to sick bay to check on the stricken Tasha Yar, Picard orders the ship to yellow alert. Worf hits the buttons, but the lights over the Klingon's shoulder do not change to reflect the ships new status. The light may have been programmed to only change when the ship enters Red Alert mode. # Worf indicates that they are going to do a parallel transport for the captain and the counselor. But when it ocours, Troi goes first, then Picard says his great line before the annular continement surrounds him. (The transporter must have one of those “dramatic line" sensors.) It only appears that Troi was beamed up first - the scene of Picard's beam up is set a few seconds earlier. Continuity and Production Problems # Phil mentioned in the NextGen Guide (on page 62) that La Forge's phaser plops to the ground after the rest of the away team runs up to try to help Riker as he sinks into Armus's black goo. He didn't mention that a phaser magically reappears, clean and fresh, on La Forge's belt after Picard beams down. Either La Forge cleaned his off, or Picard brought him down a new one. Internet Movie database Incorrectly regarded as goofs # The cloud patterns behind Yar's farewell address alternate between close and far away, depending on whether the camera takes a close-up shot of Tasha or a distant shot. (IMDB) The different viewpoint of the camera naturally affects the appearance of clouds as well, whether they are holographic or real.'IMDB entry tt0708776 Nit Central # ''Chris Thomas on Saturday, February 27, 1999 - 10:57 am: When Troi is stranded in the shuttle and don't have warp power to get to her, why can't they send a shuttle? Don't they have warp power as well? '''They would be just as vulnerable to what afflicted Troi's shuttle, whereas Enterprise is more resiliant. # When the away team first beams down, they trying walking past the Armus pool one way, then the other. All four try. Did they not think of splitting up - two one way and two the other, to get past? That would result in the creature blocking both routes. # Keith Alan Morgan on Monday, April 19, 1999 - 08:09 am: Data beams up to the ship with the Away Team, he was holding Yar when Crusher said to get her to Sick Bay, but when Picard enters Sick Bay, Data walks in behind him, then walks over to stand next to Riker. He obviously handed Yar to the medics, and went to meet Picard outside sickbay, in order to explain the exact sequence of events. =Notes= =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation